Hit & Run

Almost any careful gunner can make a rough estimate of how many gamebirds he has hit but failed to bag. Paul L. Errington and Logan J. Bennett, wild life researchers of Iowa State College, wanted something more accurate. Last autumn they got some Iowa wardens and picked hunters to keep track of hits and losses. They present their findings in the September Outdoor Life.

Their waterfowl data are based on 1,315 ducks killed or wounded by 106 hunters. Most losses came in pass shooting (from dry land near water), at which crack shots lost one-fourth of their hits, average shooters more than one-half. Fewest were lost in shooting over decoys: only 10.7% of 384 ducks. Most of the hunters shot in marshes, ordinary ones losing 41.5%, cracks 16%, for an average of 29.3% of all birds.

Of 530 pheasants shot by 138 hunters, cracks lost 19.4%, average shooters 36%, novices 39.4%. Losses might have been higher if the ground had not been snow-covered, making it easy to spot fallen birds. Quail-shooting is illegal in Iowa, but the researchers got a few figures from Missouri. Three hunters, using fairly well-trained dogs, shot 131 quail, lost 76% of them. Four oldtimers, using first class dogs, lost only two out of 46 birds. Five dogless rabbit-hunters who took shots at quail on the side lost just half of the 24 they hit.

Researchers Errington and Bennett conclude that about one duck is lost for each one bagged. Chief blame they lay on hunters' laziness in looking for wounded birds, their tendency to try overlong shots. They recommend a 50-yard range limit, more use of dogs as retrievers.

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